It does, in fact, look like I have finally submitted all the coursework needed to complete my M.Div. from NTS. Im immensely grateful and deeply indebted to everyone without whose encouragement, ‘gentle’ prodding, and relief from other tasks I couldn’t have hoped to finish—that’s right, thank you John Wright, Johnny Wright, Antony Wright, Kathy Wright, Mark David Wright, Al Kuhn, David Liestman, Daniel Nadal, Rachel Mellby, Jeff Bassett, Everyone of PFA, Steve McCormick, Andy Johnson, Pam Asher, Julie Brown-ellis, and many others. This is a reflection that I wrote for the final senior chapel last May, which I didn’t give because I wasn’t feeling very well. It seemed appropriate to include it now. When I was applying for colleges, my mom insisted that I apply to a small liberal arts school in San Diego called Point Loma Nazarene University that my uncle had gone to because it was in Southern California and close to the beach. Through scholarships and grants, the school offered and, ultimately, invested a great deal in my education. During my time at PLNU, I met someone who really messed up my life. The gift of his teaching, mentoring, counseling, prayer, and listening has greatly exceeded its recipient. He encouraged me to pursue the pastorate and to eventually move on to NTS. At NTS, I encountered a similar virtues of generosity and charity in my education through scholarships. I found that faculty likewise cared a great deal for students and for their growth in grace and wisdom. I think I have gotten to a moment in my life where I have just begun to see the hope and faith of those who have preceded me. The saints, both present and the departed, have given much of their teaching, their work, their time, their care, and their resources, to those, like myself, who have not merited them—in an act of faith and trust that God will continue to use such gifts and to sustain the church’s witness to Jesus Christ until he comes again. For those who have done such in my case, it has been a particularly bold act of faith in God. Years from now, I may come to understand (a little more) the breadth, the height, the length, and the depth of God’s love encountered here at this seminary. And as an ‘in-service’ student, I have to express my gratitude for all who have found means to root themselves in the geography of this place. You have made it possible for me to pursue studies; and, even if I didn’t come to Kansas City, it was those who came for me that allowed me to finish. I have come to be persuaded that the character of grace we receive from God through fathers, tree houses, mothers, grants, catching fireflys, aunts, stars, professors, parks, soccer, friends, ice cream, co-workers, not least the means of grace in word and sacrment, impresses us more deeply than our sins, faults or failures ever do. And if that is the case, then I will always be marked by my time and education here at NTS. Thanks be to God.
Posted on: Tue, 16 Dec 2014 18:16:53 +0000
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